Forest Change Data Catalogue

Climate

Growing season length (McKenney, D.W.)

Growing season length is calculated as the number of days between the last occurrence of 0°C in spring and the first occurrence of 0°C in fall. While each plant species has unique environmental cues to start and end its annual growth cycle, this growing season metric is a widely used general indicator of the timing of plant photosynthetic activity.

Data provided by: Dan McKenney, John Pedlar

Reference: Pedlar, J.H., McKenney, D.W., Lawrence, K., Papadopol, P., Hutchinson, M.F. and Price, D., 2015. A comparison of two approaches for generating spatial models of growing-season variables for Canada. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 54(2), pp.506-518.


Years Scenario Description Data Type Link
1981-2100 RCP 2.6; RCP 8.5 A comparison of the projected growing season length between the reference period and different climate change scenarios and time periods. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
1981-2010 RCP Reference Period The average growing season length calculated for a period from 1981-2010. This base line can be compared to the predicted growing season length for various future climate scenarios. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2011-2040 RCP 2.6 The projected growing season length for the period of 2011 to 2040 under RCP 2.6, which assumes greenhouse gas emissions will be rapidly reduced. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2041-2070 RCP 2.6 The projected growing season length for the period of 2041 to 2070 under RCP 2.6, which assumes greenhouse gas emissions will be rapidly reduced. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2071-2100 RCP 2.6 The projected growing season length for the period of 2071 to 2100 under RCP 2.6, which assumes greenhouse gas emissions will be rapidly reduced. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2011-2040 RCP 4.5 The projected growing season length for the period of 2011 to 2040 under RCP 4.5, which assumes moderate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2041-2070 RCP 4.5 The projected growing season length for the period of 2041 to 2070 under RCP 4.5, which assumes moderate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2071-2100 RCP 4.5 The projected growing season length for the period of 2071 to 2100 under RCP 4.5, which assumes moderate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2011-2040 RCP 8.5 The projected growing season length for the period of 2011 to 2040 under RCP 8.5, which assumes continued increases in greenhouse gas emissions. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2041-2070 RCP 8.5 The projected growing season length for the period of 2041 to 2070 under RCP 8.5, which assumes continued increases in greenhouse gas emissions. pdf Download (1.5 MB)
2071-2100 RCP 8.5 The projected growing season length for the period of 2071 to 2100 under RCP 8.5, which assumes continued increases in greenhouse gas emissions. pdf Download (1.5 MB)